Special Olympics athlete and coach Bobby Reidl had quite the NFL experience announcing one of the Minnesota Vikings fourth-round picks.
Bobby Reidl has a lot of energy. For 14 years, Reidl used his boundless enthusiasm to compete with Special Olympics Ohio playing basketball before an achilles injury caused a career turn.
Reidl’s positive attitude was on display at the 2021 NFL Draft. Through a partnership with the NFL foundation, Reidl was selected to announce one of the Minnesota Vikings fourth-round draft picks.
The Vikings had three picks in the fourth round starting with Iowa State running back and kick returner Kene Nwangwu at No. 119 overall. Next up was Cal safety Camryn Bynum six picks later at No. 125. Then at 134, the Vikings selected Florida State defensive end Janarius Robinson.
Reidl stepped up to the microphone and let NFL fans everywhere know that Robinson was the Vikings choice.
Bobby Reidl got to fulfill a dream
The Vikings are betting on the upside talent of Robinson who started his college career at wide receiver. He was the lone Florida State defensive lineman with multiple sacks last year.
If Robinson can bring the energy that Reidl displayed, he will have a great chance to be successful and overcome the odds of being a later round draft pick.
Reidl overcame enormous odds to be on the NFL stage. He was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at birth and his Mom was told he wouldn’t walk or talk.
Eventually he became the manager for the Pymatuning Valley High School basketball team in Andover, Ohio and is now a Special Olympics coach giving back to first and second graders.
Reidl is indeed a Browns fan, but he was more than happy to make the NFL Draft announcement for Minnesota.
Come 2022, Reidl will coach the Unified basketball team from Ohio at the 2022 Special Olympics USA games in Orlando, Florida. He is the first Special Olympics athlete from Ohio to be certified as a Special Olympics coach at the highest level 3 certification.
He is also the first Special Olympics athlete from Ohio to announce a Minnesota Vikings NFL draft pick. Reidl earned the opportunity and made the most of it.